New Life, Same Evil
by La Phantom
Summary: Based loosely on a post Elektra story written by Musicismysoul, called New Lives New Evils. Hers is a really good story, but there is always two sides to every story, a lighter one, and a darker one. This is from the other Point of view.
1. Memories Past

**Summary:** Based loosely on a post Elektra story written by Musicismysoul, called New Lives New Evils. Its a really good story, but there is always two sides to every story, a lighter one, and a darker one. This is from the other Point of view.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own elektra (or would be very rich), or New Lives new Evils, although Musicismysoul is mine. Mwahahahaaaaa...

* * *

He sits in the dark, perched on the roof of an abandoned apartment block, looking as if he was alone in the world. Far below him the streets of New York City bustle with life, a million pointless existences unaware of the doom that surrounded their little bubble of reality. They didn't realise it, but he was their protector, in a way. If anyone fought the good fight, it was he. He fought for the light, and the dark, he was in balance, choosing neither light nor darkness, but the road in-between. He fought for what he believed was right, rather than what he was told was right. In a world of sides and alliances, he was alone; he was the man without alliance, the man without a name. 

And yet, like you and me, he has both a name and exists as a normal person, while the sun is up at least. He called himself La Phantom, after the ability he shared with his idol, one of being and existing as a shade, someone not quite a part of this world, or any other. He was the balance point, the shatter point in a war that was not his responsibility, a war that lay not in the chaos around him, but in his own heart. Not a treasure, not female, but more than her in a way. If he chose he could do anything he could ever imagine doing, and had no limits. His reality was the stuff of most people's dreams, and his dreams were the nightmare of his failure. As he sat there, deciding what to do he reflected on the events, which had lead to this rooftop….

…. Born into the relative backwater of northern England, he grew up not knowing his true potential. His abilities were blocked as a child, both physically due to an accident with a 150V power cable as a small child one which, according to the doctors, was bad enough to kill a fully grown adult, and also mentally, as he was brought up by a family who despised all things supernatural, being very Christian in their beliefs. It was not until he was sixteen or seventeen that things started to change. His dreams became nightmares, he dreamed of pain and destruction every night, and started to fall asleep at different times as his whole sleeping pattern adjusted to being awake during the night. The doctors put this down to a hormonal problem in his brain, but deep down he knew that it was something else, the same thing that had saved his life many times over his short existence. He was meant for something, had to do something.

He went to university to study Physics and invested a lot of his money into the duality principle. He thought that this might be his ability, to turn thought waves, the waves of his soul, into reality. However, he proved nothing, and dropped out of university, penniless and rudderless. He tried to kill himself, and woke up in hospital, feeling powerful. His breakdown had released the mental blockage in his mind, and realised his powers. One night, not long after his powers emerged, while he was shivering in the homeless shelters of Manchester, he decided to move to somewhere where his ability could make a difference, New York City.

He had saved up money over his time on the streets, and purchased a single ticket to New York in the spring of the year 2010. When he arrived, he scoured the city for living places, until he found himself in Chinatown. As he was walking through the back alleys of this bustling part of the city, he felt a presence behind him, and neatly blocked the punches of the would be muggers creeping behind him, before neatly and quickly knocking them to the floor. It was then that his future boss Kirigi spoke to him.

"So you are the disturbance I felt this morning"

"I don't know what you are talking about sir"

"This morning I felt a disturbance within the delicate balance of power in this city, it seems that a new champion has arrived to fight the wrongs of this world. Boy, I have lived longer than you can imagine, and I know what you dream. I dream it also."

"Who in the world are you? How do you know what I dream?"

"You dream of the end of the world, of the secret war of light and dark failing, and the world descending into chaos."

"What can I do to stop it?"

"Join me, I am Kirigi, and looking for people to help fight the war, Just tell me your name, child. And then you can join the side of power, one which can fully develop your powers."

"My name is La Phantom"

"No Boy not your chosen name, your birth one."

"I have no name now, but used to be called Gareth."

* * *

Did that meet your expectations? Click the little button in the bottom corner and review please... 


	2. Death of an assassin

CHAPTER 2 IS HERE. It probably has errors as H made me write it tonight.

* * *

And so he came to be working for the hand, without knowing that this wasn't the good fight. His first task was to remove several assassins working for the hand, ones that had become double agents.

And so that was how he came to  
be hidden in the shadows above New York City. This assassin had been destroyed once again, but had returned, although now he had lost the protection of the hand this was no longer an option. The name of the man was stone. His power was basically that he was built like a tonne of bricks. Gareth's task was harder because of this, and he therefore chose to drop a lamppost on his head. Gareth sensed Stone walking down the street, and swung into position. The next few seconds flashed by, and the next thing Gareth knew, was stone imploding.

Second assassin was a new member of the hand, who had no special abilities, or powers. He had simply seen to much one day, and had been given the choice of joining the hand or dieing. He chose to join the hand, but was later discovered to be a spy, placed there by the followers of Kimiguri, who Gareth had been told were out to destroy the hands attempts at maintaining the balance. Gareth barely thought about this one, and walked up to him in broad delight. Gareth called his name, and as the spy turned, Gareth sank his blade into the spies heart. Of course, Gareth then had to run, as you cannot knife someone, even in NYC, without an uproar. As he left, jumping to the roof of a nearby building, he called at the crowds that he was the man with no name, keeping the balance in check.

This pattern continued, and soon Gareth was assigned to end the lives of some of the assassins for the other side, the followers of kimiguri. With the first kills Gareth had built up his strength, built his reputation within the hand, and became a force to be reckoned with. Every kill, every task he did for the hand. Kirigi rewarded him, providing him with weapons, clothing, even shelter, until Gareth had created his image. Clothed in leather reinforced black jeans, black leather jacket, long black leather coat, and half facemask and hood, he struck fear into any who opposed him. He carried two chrome covered samurai swords, although he used only one most of the time. He became the man with no name, and yet his he wasn't a true superhero, he had no weakness.

Most of the hands assassins had been easy, but this was not true of the followers of kimiguri, they could always sense him coming. Of course Gareth did not know this. He walked up to the man, and before he had time to react, the man spun, and attempted to bury a knife in Gareths gut. However the man failed to realise that gareth couldnt be easily killed that way, and that the damage would heal quickly. Gareth turned around, and broke the assassins neck. However this taught him a lesson, and Gareth took to killing the other assassins long range, using a sniper rifle Kirigi provided. However after some time the heat attached to his name grew too much and he chose to return to his family home, a place he had not visited in a long while. Just after he had gone to university his father had moved the rest of the family to a small village in the north of France, so Gareth caught a plane to Paris, before catching the train to nearby Flers. As he walked the 8 kilometres from the station to the small village of Chanu, he contemplated his life, and the similarities with his hero, the Phantom. Gareth had visited the opera in Paris, L'Opera de Charles Garnier, on the Rue Scribe, and had noticed the similarities between his life and Erik's. Both had abusive families. Both were gifted musicians, both were assassins. The only difference was in Erik's deformity. This had been similar, but due to the miracles of plastic surgery, the damaged inflicted on his face by his father had been fixed. Since then, he had cut contact with his father, who had turned against Gareth, blaming him for the loss of his job, and his friends. Last time Gareth saw him he had threatened to kill Gareth if he ever saw him again. Gareth figured that he might have forgiven this by now. After all, he was his father…although he didn't act, as one should.

He entered the village of Chanu in the dusk of an early summers evening, and walked up to the house his family owned, not realising that he was being monitored on a CCTV camera linked to a Face-it program, written to communicate an alarm on Gareth's approach. He walked through the garden, to the front door and knocked. After an indeterminable wait, Gareth felt the muzzle of a gun pressed against his back.

"I told you if you ever returned I would kill you. Goodbye, Gareth."

The gun exploded in his father's hands, a slug entered Gareths body, and the last things Gareth saw before he died was the peculiar shaped gun in his father's hands, and the blade of Kirigi's sword slice through his father.

THE END?

* * *

Cliffie or what? Now review.  



	3. Reawakening

A/N: I had this idea while in manchester today, and i couldnt wait to get home and write it down. Hopefully as this is my third chapter it will get more reviews. fingers crossed

* * *

Our hero with no name was dead, to all efforts of medical science. His father was exectuted for the crime of murder, (as Gareth had become an American citizen this meant his father was extradited to the usa where he was given the death sentence. His trial broke the record for the quickest trial ever, one look at his case history and the jury made up their minds, and it was a week after the shooting that he was found guilty and sentenced to die. Gareths remaining family wanted nothing to do with the body, and so it was given to his 'boss' Kirigi. Kirigi's scientists worked night and day, and yet could make no headway on even finding the bullet. Gareth lay on the examining table, with no pulse, no heartbeat, and yet had not even crossed the threshold into the first stage of rigor mortis. When the scientists probed the bullet hole, they found traces of the bullet but no bullet itself. It was as if it had disappeared.

Several weeks later all the team had gone home for the evening, leaving Gareths corpse on the autopsy bench ready for the morning, when they would perform a full autopsy before burying the corpse. It was no extra ordinary evening, apart from the fact that it was an exact lunar month, that is to say twenty eight days, since Gareth was shot. His corpse lay on the table, nude and prepped for the autopsy. Suddenly, Gareths chest started to move up and down as if he was breathing, which in fact, he was. It was as if Gareth was simply asleep, or in some sort of coma.

The next morning the scientists were amazed. They had never come across a case where a body survives for a month, without some sign. They conducted tests, CAT scans MRI scans, every type of scan available and were just waiting for the results of the toxicology scan, when Gareth woke up. There was no trigger, no event, he just woke up, sat up on the trolley and asked for food. After all, he hadn't eaten in over a lunar month.

As he was eating, the toxicology results arrived on Kirigi's desk. After a quick glance, Kirigi quickly left his office and walked to the laboratories, where he found Gareth busily devouring the Scientist's lunch.

"Good afternoon Gareth."

"What happened Kirigi. The last thing I remember is walking up to my house, and then I heard something behind me. A voice, my fathers voice. What did he say?"

"He reminded you of what he had promised the last time he saw you, before shooting you with a modified shotgun. You have lain as if dead in the laboratories for the last month, with a bullet wound in your back but no bullet."

"What did he shoot me with? How was the shotgun modified?"

"The shotgun had a modified lead magazine, but as far as we could tell, it was empty. I have only this moment found out the truth of the matter."

"What happened?"

"Somehow your father came into possession of a chemical virus. As far as the scans can tell, it's a genetic combination of HIV and the Smallpox virus. The labs have come up with a drug to combat it, but it can only stop it as long as you take the drugs. Stop taking them and you will experience pain beyond anything you have ever felt before. Stop taking the antibody and you will die painfully and slowly."

"What is the drug?"

"I will give you a copy of the formula later. For now, you must regain your strength. Here is a sample of the drug now. This will last you exactly one lunar month. Fail to take it at your peril. I have had the staff prepare you a room. The training room is down the hall on your left, and your room on the right. Become strong again, Gareth, and become who you are meant to be."

Gareth was given a key to his room, along with the syringe full of the blue liquid. He walked unsteadily down the corridor, turned to the right, and collapsed onto his bed, where he fell asleep before his head even touched the pillow.

* * *

There. Now review. Please, Even you Lee. 


	4. First of Me

AN: Hello People. i am back.

* * *

**I must make a choice**

**A tough decision**

**Listen to my voice**

**Should I give in**

**To temptation, admiration**

**One leads to myself**

**The other some one else**

**Just an empty shell**

**Just an empty shell**

Except Gareth had already made that choice. His father's acts had made the decision very easy. He wouldn't give into the temptation of becoming his father. He would be himself, the man with no name, the man all his life's experiences had created. He had trained hard during the months after his 'death' and had used it as a rebirth. In choosing to become the man with no name the Gareth Jones born in 1990 had disappeared, leaving behind an empty shell.

**It's harder than it seems**

**When you're told that**

**All your hopes and dreams**

**Are yours to hold if**

**You just give them**

**What's expected**

**Something they can sell**

**Put upon a shelf**

**But I am not for sale**

**I am not for sale**

And yet Gareth had not realised that in becoming the man with no name, any hopes and dreams of his had disappeared. He had no family yes, but he could create any life for himself, he did not need to become part of the hand. And yet he was deceived. He thought he was working for good, not evil. He gave them everything they wanted, losing himself in the process, and he became muscle for hire, limiting his future, destroying his soul.

**If I can't refuse**

**The price they offer**

**I am sure to lose**

**And I will suffer**

**Sell my soul to make a profit**

**All I have to do**

**Is make believe it's true**

**That something I can't do**

**That something I can't do**

The thing was Gareth couldn't refuse the price the Hand had offered; they promised him power beyond his imagination and power had corrupted him. He had lost the fight to not become the man his father was, he had become a worse man, totally committed to the dark. And yet he couldn't become that man. His soul was hidden in itself, refusing to open up, he had become robotic in his actions, and over time his power was fading, he was becoming a normal man. Kirigi noticed this, and set him one last task. Kirigi knew that he would probably die in the attempt, so sent Gareth away from the hideout, telling him to not return until it was done. His orders: kill the assassin Elektra Nachios.

**So when the waiting's gone**

**This time to face the truth**

**You know your good enough**

**Deep down inside of you**

Gareth was settled into an apartment near Elektra's, it was part of a disused block. His outfit was hidden in his bag, and he was dressed in civilian clothes, shivering in spite of himself. It was so cold around that his battered immune system had failed and he was quite ill. It was in the midst of this that his soul returned to life. It did this as a woman clothed entirely in light entered the room. His soul swelled with love, and he realised there was something more. He heard a voice inside him growing to a scream. He realised that he was not the next of them, the next of the hands assassins but that he was the first of himself. He could no longer live the lie of living two lives; he wasn't the man with no name any more. He could be just Gareth.

**You're finally woken up**

**If only just to prove**

**You are born to lead the way**

**Then be the first of you**

He would finish their last assignment, and then become just himself. He could produce the vaccine himself now, and could live without them, he could be himself, and lead the way. Thanks to this woman in front of him, he had realised the truth.

"Who are you?" He croaked, barely able to speak

"My name is Hayley. Why are you here Gareth?"

"Hayley" He repeated, realising he had met her before, a lifetime ago, when she gave him a dose of the vaccine in the street, once when he had become to weak to use it himself. He had walked her to this very apartment once, no wonder it seemed so familiar. He collapsed then, the combination of his disease and the illness getting too much.

* * *

REVIEWS. 


	5. Les morts dansant

A short chapter just to keep your interests up. Review please.

* * *

As he lay on the bed, delirious with the combined illnesses he dreamed of his past. Not as the man he was now, but of lives past, of the reason he was the way he was.

Many Cannons roared in the valley below Gareth's feet. They thundered relentlessly never stopping, the sounds of the war which Gareth was entrenched in. While the guns lit up the night he stood there in the rain, wondering which side was right. Gareth knew the outcome of this war, knew that somewhere within this terror lay the reason for Gareth's bad Karma. Except that here, he was not Gareth, but Private Johnson. This man whose thoughts were being viewed, was the last reincarnation of Gareth, one of the many who lived and died in the Great War. Gareth realised with irony that the Great War had never ended, nor had it began in 1914.

Private Johnson's eyes wandered along the wire, and his eyes settled on something he had became all too familiar with. On the wire like a ragged old scarecrow his hands bloody and his back broken. This one was not dead though, and Johnson's rifle turned towards this target. He shot the man and saw him pirouette in solo jumping in time to the rat a tat of Johnson's gun.

He turned again, and saw a flash of light, one of the other soldiers was in the barn they had captured that morning. As the screams of the woman he was torturing grew louder, Gareth knew that this was the event that he had failed to stopped, but he was powerless to stop the man, as his body responded only to the commands of Private Johnson. The man came out of the barn to dispatch his precious cargo. As he threw the broken body of the girl over the wire, bullets knock him right off his feet and his broken body hits the floor. Private Johnson prayed that no one followed the man, although it was better still to face the beast, then to face the court martial, which would surely follow.

As Johnson turned away from the scene, hating what he had failed to stop, a bullet hit him squarely in the head, and the light faded from his eyes. The snipers had seen him, and now his debt was unfufilled, his soul could not pass on. Gareth's soul sped through time, to that place in today's time. Where the field of battle had become a garden, and the wall of the barn had stood the test of time. Children play in what was once death, and the dogs run barking through the grass.

Who would think or who would guess of the events, which had occurred in the middle of that fateful war. Surely none of those in the garden now would remember the evil of the past. Innocents had died here, and Gareth had to put his wrong right in this life, or he would not be allowed to die, and go on to paradise. Surely the evils of war would remain a part of this place, but then war is not evil, just the men who fight wars. Nature reclaims its own, and will always live on.

Man can only do so much, the wars between good and evil were no concern of nature. Perhaps that was the lesson that Gareth learned in his spirit journey, but he now knew that he would have to repay his debt, and that somehow, his current line of employment was not doing this for him...

* * *

NOW REVIEW. Even you Hayley. 


	6. A Visit, and Pizza Pockets

A.N. Sorry for the long update time. This is for my remaining fan.

* * *

Her visits became a regular occurrence, giving perspective and meaning to my cell like existence. A few visits in, she gave me her cell number, a bit ironic though, as I don't own a phone of my own. It was a few weeks later, and she hadn't been for several days. I feared that she had forgotten me, or that I had been out spying on my last hit, well my last hits, as it was a couple, when she had called round. I decided to ring her, and descended to street level, where I found a payphone in a nearby subway. The phone rang several times, and I was just about to give up when she answered.

"Hey Gareth"

"Hey Hayley, ain't seen you around in a bit. You at home?"

"No I'm at a friends"

"Friends? You alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine"

"But you haven't been to see me in days, are you sure you are alright? I'm worried about you Hay.

"No you don't have to worry really I'm perfectly fine"

" Okay then, I'll believe you. Wondered if you were coming to see me sometime?"

She replied yes, and then put the phone down. I returned to my 'apartment', and was in the bathroom when I heard the door open. Her voice called out my name, and asked if I was in. I did not reply straight away, as I was in the bathroom, but as I was finishing she called out my name again, and I ventured out of the bathroom. I called out her name, and as she turned, enveloped her in one of my bear hugs, a task made difficult by the huge pack she was wearing. She smiled at me and hugged me back, I questioned her on the pack, and she replied.

"I though I could at least bring you over some things".

I stared down at her, thanking her silently for showing me this place.

"You shouldn't have", I said, "I've got enough right here"

"Yes the packets off cheese and left over food from restaurants is really good for you" she replied, laughing.

"Hey. Its good and I like it."

"Common don't you want to see what I got you?" she teased

"I want to see" I pouted, and sat on the floor.

"Ok let's see what I have in my magic bag of tricks"

She pulled out clothes, food, and finally pizza pockets.

"What pizza pockets!!!" I shouted, neglecting the other stuff for the delicious food. "I haven't had one of these in weeks"

"I know I just ate like fifty of them" she laughed and opened the thermos with the hot food in it

I was starving, and wolfed down as many as I could. She told me she had more and that I was to slow down, so I hugged her again, and told her she was the best. Even then she wasn't being serious, and called herself the almighty giver of food. No matter that she had saved my life, this girl made everything a joke. We chatted for ages, before I asked her, hoping she would get the hint.

"So Hayley. You got a boyfriend yet?"

"Nope not any more and like I have said many time before, I don't believe in true love, its just a fake emotion made up by the government so that people will buy crap for their lovey dovey crap"

I laughed, and called her an ice maiden, before lying back on my makeshift bed, and telling her that I believed in love.

"Oh well believe what you want but I know that it's just artificial love and not real"

I sighed, "you know you're bitter don't you?"

"Oh so I go from being the best to being bitter" she laughed "well I guess this is the last time I bring food to you"

"No I was kidding, just bring back the food" I sighed and closed my eyes even though the cold never gave me any rest. Suddenly I realized something and asked her.

"Where did you get this stuff anyways?"

She lay down besides me, and informed me that she had found a friend of mine, one of her really good friends from when she was a kid and that she had gone to see him. His girlfriend and other roommate had let her stay the night and they all had got to know each other. I told her I hoped to get my own apartment, and she asked where she was going to live. Sick of her teasing, I said that she could live in her penthouse, when she was rich and famous. She rolled her eyes, and informed me that she once again had writers block. I told her I would help her, and reached for my sketchpad, where I wrote down anything and everything, never telling anyone about them. I had written songs, poems, stories, thoughts, and dreams, but once again she told me she wouldn't do them justice, even when I protested. At that point Hayley noticed the sun sinking below the city skyline, and told me, getting to her feet.

"Well I better go everyone is probably wondering if I got mugged or killed"

She didn't know how accurate she could have been; after all I wasn't exactly a good guy was I? I stood up, hugged her, and insisted on her return. She told me she would return on the morrow, and then remembered something, and drew a small portable, battery powered heater from her pack. I joked, and smiled at her generosity. She then told me she was going to get an apartment, and I could share it with her. I was in heaven, but as usual, I was brought back down to earth, this time by her leaving.

* * *

That night I decided to introduce myself to the man known as Daredevil. Aka Matthew Murdock, one half of my final hit. I used a gadget I had designed, capable of emitting an ultrasonic pulse, rendering him truly blind. I smiled as I saw its effects, and walked over to the man without fear, the man so obviously afraid without his sight.

"So how do you feel Devil?" I asked, laughing. "Where am I? Am I more then you can see?"

He swung at empty air for a long time, and when I became impatient, I felled him with a single blow to his ribs.

"Who the hell are you?" he said a course voice

"Your worst nightmare Devil" I laughed "but don't worry I'm not here to kill you, no not yet, just simply testing out my new gadget"

Dare Devil stood up, his legs shaky "what do you mean?"

I told him it was I removing his sight, before disappearing to a nearby vantage point. I watched as Daredevil stood, and swore at the heavens. After he had gone, I laughed, before returning to my room for some much needed rest.

* * *

Now Review.


	7. Thoughts, and Complications

A/N. A quick Update for you all. Have Sorta prepared the rest, but need cookies to post more.

* * *

I was up on the roofs of the kitchen today when I saw her, and for no reason, I decided to follow her. Not sure why, but needed to get out of that rat infested hellhole. Hells Kitchen for sure, but Clinton was more than that, at times it seemed to be more than that, more like hells whole house, and only a few there to hold it back from the abyss. I kept back from her, high above her, on rooftops, and scaffolding, one good thing about the kitchen was it was always being repaired, and had lots of climbing places. She was heading towards an apartment block, when I heard a commotion on the other side of the building I was on top of. I looked down, and saw a young girl on the floor, a girl who could have so easily been Hayley, being assaulted by a group of men. They already had her bag, but it seemed they wanted something more. I recognized them as being from the hand, yet at the risk of revealing my true allegiances I had to help; after all it could have been Hayley. At least I could reduce the suspicion on me. As a way of studying my last hits I had purchased a set of silver Sais, a weapon much more suited to being concealed, and so I had them on me. Hopefully Kirigi would suspect it was my target, and not myself, who had committed this crime against him. I dropped silently through the air behind the men, counting them as I fell. Five men, against one poor defenseless girl, how was that fair now? I had to even the odds. Before I hit the ground, three of them had been killed, victims of a set of modified ninja stars, which fitted in my belt buckle. I had stolen that idea from bullseye, before I put him out of his misery. He had useful information, about the devils fear of noise, so I made it quick and painless, more of a mercy killing. After all to my eyes he had never recovered, who does after dropping out of a church steeple onto a car? Anyway I digress. As I silently hit the ground, the men shouted for their foe to appear. I killed one with my Sais, stabbing him through the heart from behind. The other man spotted me, however, and drew a wicked looking dagger from beneath his coat. He challenged me. The fool. I would so have liked to finish him with my wire then, a length of wire, resembling a lasso... another invention borrowed from the past. Who could forget Erik, my namesake, and his Punjab lasso? However, I wished to make Kirigi believe it was she; maybe he would give me more pay for defeating her, if she had killed more of his minions. I parried his knife, blow for blow, even letting him believe he had the upper hand, until he ripped my shirt, as I realized my mistake. I stepped up a notch, until the man realized I was playing with him and, dropping the knife, he turned and ran. He had hardly gone ten paces when my Sais entered his neck, severing the nerves, and the jugular. Messy perhaps, but oh so like my target.

As I returned to the roofs, after ensuring the woman's safety, I saw Hayley, exiting a shabby looking apartment building.

"Damn,"

I swore, annoyed that I had missed what she had been up to. I would wait for later, she would tell me, after all.

* * *

I returned to the building I lived in, throwing my shirt in a nearby trashcan as I passed, before sitting idly by the heater, waiting for her to arrive. She quietly knocked, and entered, trying not to disturb me.

"Hey you." I said softly

"Hey" she smiled back at me, sitting next to me and watching the heater. "See you ate all my food"

"Your food? Excuse me but I do remember someone giving that food to me."

"Oh and who would that be?"

"You might know her very well." he smiled down at her

"And who would this mystery girl be? Oh don't tell me, it's that old lady next door isn't it? Cause I know you were checking her out you player."

"Player I may be, but she's no the one who gave it to me, this girl is nice, smart, no to mention a great musician." I said, purposefully being vague, what was the point of being close to someone without playfully teasing.

"Oh my god Abby gave you this food" She said, a naive expression on her face.

I gave up and laughed, "No. Her name is Hayley"

"So you've been mooching off of other Hayley's have you?" she laughed, not ready to give it up quite yet.

"God you are so dense"

I flung my hands up in mock defeat, laughing at the absurdity of it all. She smiled back, and watched the heater. Somehow we could sit silently in each other's company, and yet know what each other was thinking, an unspoken bond, between the two of us. She lowered her head onto my shoulder, content in my presence. So little she knew. I looked down at her closed eyes, and lowered my head onto hers; gaining what rest I was able. I could have sat there for hours, but she suddenly jumped up, and shouted.

"Oh shit. That's what I forgot, ok get some good clothes on."

"Why?" I asked disappointedly.

"It's a surprise now lets get going"

I changed, and asked her, laughing as I realized that she didn't know I'd stalked her.

"Where the hell are you leading me crazy chick?"

"You'll see" she smiled maliciously.

As I had guessed, we walked back to where I had seen her this morning. So I was to gain access to her secret. She led me into the apartment building, to the top floor, and I noticed the empty apartments opposite the door she stopped at. These seemed a perfect place to decamp my lair to. She opened the door with a small Yale key, although to me it looked like one kick would have done the job, even by a weakling like her. I would have to remedy that sometime.

'Ta Da" Hayley smiled waving her arms in the air at the room.

"This is it?" I asked laughing at the pathetically small, three roomed apartment. Well, two roomed, with a minute bathroom. I hoped the shower worked, fervently realizing how much I needed a wash. Living in poverty sort of makes you forget things, like hygiene. She interrupted my thoughts, with a usual Hayley comment.

"Is that all, I waited three months to buy this apartment and Ta DA I got it!" she said, smiling. "And guess what it's got one extra room, now who do I know that would stay in an apartment with me?"

I decided to play her game, and put my hand in the air, jumping. "OH, Oh I know this one."

"Yes you in the front" she laughed, playing along, again.

"Gareth"

"Is that your final answer?"

"Can I take a life line?" I said, following her as she moved back to the front door.

"Nope." She laughed, jangling her keys at me. I noticed there were two identical sets. She had obviously planned this, and so disregarding the danger it may put her in, I relented.

"Then yes that is my final answer."

She clapped, jumping up and down again. I didn't know where she got the energy myself.

"What has he won Johnny…? DING, DING, DING he wins half of an apartment with a young lady name Hayley"

"Aww crap that just ruined it" I joked.

She hit me in the arm, and I remembered to complain, having a high pain tolerance was in itself a pain sometimes.

"Shut up. Well its home."

"Well yeah I like it. Now where do I sleep?"

She pointed to a small run down couch on the other side of the room "there you are" she laughed

It was too small, even for her. I asked her if that was it, and she reminded me that anything was better than that cold wreck. I asked her where she was going to sleep. She walked through the door and told me, pointing at a decrepit mattress on the floor.

"Over here".

Seriously, it was worse than the couch. I had to get better furniture. I told her she could have the couch, as that mattress was probably infested. She told me it was too late, she had dibs as she had already slept there. I knew she was lying, trying to give me the best deal. I jumped onto the mattress and laughed.

"You are going to have to pry me off of here to sleep here, or sleep here with me" I informed her, serious except for winking my left eye.

"You know you are such a player." She said, laughing and dropped her jacket next to me. "And no I'm not sleeping in the same bed as you"

"Then you will have to get me off here"

She pulled out one of her drumsticks and laughed, "Get up or I'll make you"

"Is that a threat or a promise?"

"That's a treat".

* * *

R+R


	8. Coincidences Make the World Go Round

A/N. Just One more review, give it to meee.

* * *

I just didn't get things anymore. How had this happened, after all the space I had tried to put between me and my humanity, to my desires? I shouldn't have let myself open up, thought by now that that would be impossible. Past experiences shaped me that way, betrayal after betrayal making me what I was, an emotionless cold-blooded killer. So how was it that I was lying next to her, like this? She had started it, though, although once she had, I was very willing to go along with it, after all, it had been a very long time since anything like that had happened. She stopped me after a while though, and I apologized, thinking I'd perhaps done something wrong, as I saw a tear on her cheek. She told me there was no need to, and cuddled up to me, her skin warm against mine. After a time she decided to lighten the mood, as was her way. She sat up, and I copied her, the mattress cold without her lying with me.

"I told you I'd get the mattress" she laughed "now go to yours I have to get to sleep for work tomorrow"

"Like I said before I'm not letting you sleep on a crappy old mattress that no one should ever sleep on"

She sighed, "Fine, I'll sleep on the futon"

"Futon" he lifted his head as she walked to the couch, "you didn't tell me it was a futon"

"Too late you wanted that mattress so bad" she said, swaying her hips as she walked over to the futon, teasing me once again.

I picked up my shirt off the floor, where it had been thrown after she had removed it. "You know I love whoever invented indoor heat, means I don't freeze when you get ideas, missy."

Hayley laughed as she dressed in a black tank top and a pair of girly boxers. She looked so beautiful in the half-light caused by the street lamps outside. She looked over at me on the mattress, and after a few seconds, coyly moved back to me on it. She lay beside me, and whispered

"Guess what, I get the mattress."

She lay just inches away from me, tantalizing me once again by being so close, and yet not touching me. I wanted her in my arms, it seemed only right in my arms, after the evening we had just had. I thought I'd give her the hint, and whispered at her.

"You know I'm a little cold."

"Sorry flash can't help you there"

I gave up, and said, rolling over and wrapping my arms around her

"Oh but you can, see"

She didn't complain, and I drifted into a deep, thankfully dreamless sleep. The last thing I wanted was to wake her up with my usual restless sleep.

* * *

The next morning we got up, and Hayley sent me in search of breakfast. I returned with coffee, hot chocolate, and breakfast bagels, and we ate them in companionable silence. She told me she had to go to work, at some diner. This suited me fine; I could move my things into one of the empty rooms in the block, without her seeing. She was under the impression that I was poor, and only owned as much as could fit in my pack. I wasn't about to tell her the truth; it seemed easier to protect her. After all I was in all aspects a monster. She left, and after a few minutes, I went in search of the landlord, who didn't want to sell me an apartment, nosy git wanted to keep tabs on me no doubt. However a few extra hundred-dollar bills stopped his complaints, and I soon owned the apartment next door to Hayley's. Outright bill of sale; signed and witnessed by one of his associates, and a lawyer from across the street.

Returning to the decrepit old block where I had previously squatted, I placed my hand on one of the remaining corridor doors, revealing that in fact it was a sensor, locking the door to anyone but me. The door itself was a façade; no more rotting wooden door then I was poor, homeless Gareth. Behind the door was my lair, where I worked in piece on inventions to make my job easier. It was here I had created the ultrasound device capable of disrupting the devils echo-sense, and here that my latest device rested. Using squeezed-vacuum technology, I was able to generate negative energy, and hence antigravity, not in enough quantities to negate my weight, but enough to reduce it, and any objects I was holding, to a fraction of it. I called it an inertial dampener, for reasons obvious to my physicist background. I dismantled my kit, placing the dampeners in several rucksacks in the room just for that purpose. Placing a copy of the device inside each of the rucksacks, I realized it would take several trips, even with their weight reduced. I didn't have the time for this, and so called in an old favor, and before I knew it, my stuff was in the new lair, the rotting door replaced by the door from my old lair. To finish the effect, I sprayed the windows opaque with black spray-paint purchased for that purpose, and connected up my experiments, power provided, not from the aging electricity provided to the room, but from my own generator, powered by hydrogen and aluminum. I had stolen the idea from a product called enginuity, and modified it for my own purposes. I also wired up one of the plugs in Hayley's apartment up to my setup, intending that she shouldn't have to pay for my usage. I finished just in time, Hayley returned from work as I was fixing her door, replacing it with a much more secure one which I told her I'd found on a demolition site. Liberated more like, but needs must abide. I couldn't have some mugger break in on her, especially with the danger I was putting her in.

We sat on the futon after I'd finished, and she talked about her day at the diner. Usual day it seemed, boring as ever. I picked up some crisps out of one of the bags I had brought from my old place, passed her a bag, and sat next to her, eating my own, arm around her. Her cell phone rang, and she moved into the next room to answer it. She returned before the call had ended, slowly hanging up her phone. I looked over from the couch, at her saddened face.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She told me, shaking her head.

I put the crisps down, and walked over towards her.

"Don't lie to me I know something is wrong"

"It's not me, its Josh something wrong with him"

She walked over to the couch and plopped down, exactly in the spot I had just vacated. I followed her over, kneeling on the floor in front of her, and placing my head on her lap.

"You look like some things wrong to"

"No I'm fine you big lug" she smiled, ruffling my hair

"Hey, hey don't touch the do." I mock screamed, fixing my now seriously compromised hair do.

Hayley laughed and lay down on the couch. To try and get her happier again, I decided to be playful, and lay down on the floor, exactly copying her position.

"Are you copying me?" She asked.

"Are you copying me?" I replied in falsetto.

"That's really annoying." she yawned

"That's really annoying." I fake yawned

"I'm a pretty girl"

I'm a… hey!! Not funny." Damn it, she had outwitted me again.

"On the contrary it was very funny" she chuckled

There was a knock at the door, breaking up the moment. She answered it, to find a very wet josh. After hello's, I retreated into the other room, with the mattress in it, to adjust one of my toys. One of the inertial dampeners wasn't working properly, and I was determined to fix the small, handheld device.

* * *

Some time later I heard the door bang as Josh left the apartment without saying goodbye. If Hayley hadn't been there I would have said something over his terrible manners. I hear her talking to herself,

"Crap that was my last dry shirt."

I couldn't resist.

"Well you could just take your shirt off"

"Har di har har, not going to happen perv." She changed underneath a towel.

"Aww ruin my fun" I laid back down on my mattress, having completed the fix.

She came into my room, and lay on the mattress next to me, in my arms. She seemed upset again, but wouldn't tell me what. After she drifted off into oblivion, I extricated myself from her returned embrace. I would have stayed, but I had work to do. I went to my lair, and dressed in my outfit, including some new boots, which increased my height by several inches, so that I would have a height advantage over my enemies. Hitting the streets I found a young female mugger, standing over an ex comrade of mine, a man of the hand who had been injured in service, and could no longer defend himself, and started fighting her, hoping to attract the attentions of Elektra herself, or if not, her young copycat. I needed to test how my inertial dampener worked, and she would be the perfect test. I heard a voice, from below.

"Leave her alone" it yelled out

I looked up, and said through the mask. "Finally, word gets around quickly"

"What word?" Abby whipped out her warrior beads

"A new Elektra is on the streets tonight, and I guess that it's you"

"Well word does get around quickly, and who are you?"

"I am the one with no name, neither friend nor foe. However if it is Elektra you are connected to then I must kill you."

"And why is that?" she asked

I said something about Elektra killing my parents, hoping to dispirit the young copycat.

"I am not Elektra but if you want to hurt anymore girls or Elektra than you have to go through me first."

"Then so be it." I charged after the young copycat.

We fought, and I overpowered her, plunging my sword into her shoulder, purposefully maiming her. I was about to end it for her, when I heard gunshots, and felt the bullets hitting me. No pain though, as usual. I turned to my new assailant, and realized it was Josh. I swore under my breath, realizing I had to exit quickly. Silently I said goodbye so he wouldn't recognize my voice, mockingly saluting him as I jumped up to the rooftops, another outfit ruined. I cleaned myself up, and returned to the mattress with Hayley, finding oblivion myself, in her arms.


	9. Girls are so Dumb

**A/N:** Some girls need to learn about opportune moments i think. Here it is as promised H. Now review it.

* * *

She was laughing at me. It was so weird, we had only been more than just friends a day or so and yet we already acted like an old married couple. Well, sort of I suppose, in the respect that all couples have secrets from each other. I was trying to plug this television in that Hayley had 'found' that morning. In reality I'd left it there for her, figuring that it was easier than me explaining where I'd got the money. Anyways, she was laughing at me because I was trying to connect it to the power socket, which I had fed from my lair next door, so as to not run up the electricity bill. So after she'd picked where she wanted it, and I'd manhandled it into place I realized that it was at the wrong side of the room, and had been unsuccessfully rigging extension cables across the room. After realizing there was no way, I lay on the ground panting, damning the television, (and Hayley for choosing to put it there).

She carried on laughing, and plugged the television into the socket next to the television. Great, now I had to wire that socket into my lair power source. I hid my irritation, and walked over to her. Feigning ignorance I asked her, scratching the back of my neck.

"Why didn't you tell me that that was there?"

I sat down, right on top of Hayley.

"Get off of me!"

"Never!" I replied, laughing.

"I can't breathe!!!"

"Why? Did you forget? Here I'll show you," I laughed, imitating breathing

"You're going to crush me."

I stood up, and once she had had the chance to breathe, once; I sat back down.

"GARETH GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!" she screamed

I jumped off her so fast, scared that I'd actually hurt her, my Hayley. My shirt caught on her though, and ripped off, exposing the marks from the night before. Hayley placed her fingers on the Gunshot wounds peppering my back, and asked me what in the world had happened. Quickly I came up with an excuse, the first thing that came into my head, and I stuttered something about the head chef throwing hot eggs at me, and burning me. She didn't believe me however, and questioned me again looking straight at me. I didn't want her to push me; afraid I would snap at her. I stood up, and half shouted at her, the anger burning in my eyes, as I told her once again I'd got burnt, before I slumped down on my bed, my eyes glowing gold with the effort of remaining in control. I could feel that she didn't believe me, and knew how much it hurt her, but I couldn't tell her, could I?

The next morning, after Hayley had gone to work, leaving a note telling me she was working late to pay the rent, I got so annoyed again by the events of last night, and the fact that she knew full well that I knew Josh had paid for this months rent, I decided to go to the gym, to cool down. All the way there I agonized over whether to tell her my dark secret, yet by the time I had reached the gym, I had still failed to make my decision. I grimaced at the bimbo manning the reception, god how dumb people annoyed me when I was like this, and quickly got changed, before heading to the punch bags. I started with the lighter ones, but they failed to scratch the itch so to speak, so I moved to the heaviest black bags hanging there, and pounded all my anger into them, the exercise creating the perfect catharsis I needed after the past eighteen hours. I carried on hitting it until my knuckles bled, and then hit it some more. When I was exhausted, I wiped down the bag, and returned to the dressing room, my mind slightly clearer. I decided that I deserved pampering, and used the gyms free products to pamper myself, shaving and showering, until I felt like a new man. It was easier to face my decision like this. I would not tell her, but I would give her a clue. Surely she would realize from this?

That night I hid high above the streets, hidden under my outfit, avoiding the police, who were after me because of what I had done to Hayley's friend, Abby. I had to be so careful now. So I sat there in the darkness, contemplating the trail of sadness, which had led me to this point, the fights with my family, the accidents, and finally the loss of money and the false accusation. I decided it was time, and headed back to my home, my intentions clear, I would show myself to her, let her realize the truth, she should figure it out after all. I landed on the fire escape, my balance perfect as usual, and looked down at her, watching the television whilst lying on the couch. She was reading, wearing a pair of glasses I had never seen before, the book old and well thumbed, her hair escaping from the bun she had worn for work. I looked down at her, and adjusted my position, the fire escape creaking as I did. It was enough to wake her from her reverie. She walked over to the window, and looked straight into my face, not realizing who I was. She had the cheek to ask my name, how stupid was she, not realizing that I was her boyfriend.

I answered her as I answered everyone, in a voice not my own; "I am the one with no name"

"That doesn't help there, because you know that I want a creeping guy outside my window" she said sarcastically

The man chuckled "are you always this sarcastic?" he asked

She nodded "yup I think so"

"I thought so" he smiled behind the mask

"Again who are you" she put arms around her to keep some warmth in

I gave up, told her she would know in time, and disappeared back into the darkness, which hid the truth from her.

* * *

Sorry its short. I hit a brick wall.

Reviews please.


	10. Confessions

**A.N.** : Have been told i needed to update. So here i go.

* * *

**I got changed out of my costume back in my lair, and considered what to do, whether I should tell her or not. I decided to wait a little while longer, and to see where our conversations took us first. I exited my lair and walked to the next room, and entered the door to see Hayley sitting on the couch, the window wide open, and the room slowly freezing over. I asked her why it was so cold, and if she'd opened the window, as if I didn't know. She told me that it was some guy on the fire escape, and that she had opened the window to talk to him. I chose not to comment on the stupidity of her actions; after all it had been me. So I walked over to her and sat on the tiredly, before asking her if she knew who it was.**

"Some freak in a Halloween mask" she said eating a mouthful of hot food. Silly girl hadn't tested the food before she'd eaten it, and it was too hot for her. She tried to cool it down unsuccessfully, so gave up and just swallowed it, a pained look on her face. She told me that the guy was some daredevil copycat. I almost lost it right there, she thought I was a copycat. I was myself, and nothing to do with the daredevil. We were opposites that was all, I had been told to exterminate his lover after all. I mumbled under my breath non-committedly, and she looked at the book that was sitting on the table. I was sick of her reading it, some soppy high school rubbish about love and escapism. I argued with her about it for a while, then decided that screw it, I would tell her the truth, even if she did not like it. So I brought it up again, I asked if the guy on the fire escape had given his name, knowing I had not. She repeated my words back to me, word for word. So I told her it was I, and tried to explain it to her, but she walked off, into her room. I figured she was going to get the handgun from her bed. I knew about it of course, but did not care if she shot me or not, as far as I knew I could not be killed anyway, so what did it matter if she shot me.

She walked back in, and accused me of being a bastard. I guess I was one, after all my dad had disowned me. I told her to go ahead and shoot me. The gun shook in her hands as she questioned my motives. There was only one motive, money. I tried to explain that I didn't want to hurt her, and that this was my final job, before I tried to live a normal life, with friends like her. She backed away and asked why I hadn't stopped before. I told her I needed the money to help her, to make sure she was safe and that we could live a normal life. She told me to stop, and pulled the trigger.

I managed to deflect the bullet, and it passed harmlessly through the window. I grabbed hold of her, and begged her to forgive me. She told me after a long while that she wasn't sure if she could. I told her not to tell anyone, and ran off, to the safety of my lair.


End file.
